Comments on: My Year of Failure

By: Blair Enns

Blair Enns — Tue, 25 May 2010 22:02:14 +0000

Great move, and as a result, great post.

You might be interested in David Baker's Special Message to Control Freaks (http://www.recourses.com/2010i) especially his own experience with borderline OCD.

The free-est animal in the world is the snake that has just shed his skin. I always wished I could do that. Reinvent your business, reinvent your life, reinvent your behaviour, move your office to a tree.

Blogs aren't life sentences. Knock it down, mix it up, do something different. Attachment is suffering; life is pain. Go Karj, go.

By: SJL Perth

SJL Perth — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 09:23:03 +0000

Great article, could really connect to a lot of your points, I especially enjoyed reading your reference to the trainspotting interview!

By: Paul Winslow

Paul Winslow — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 21:42:48 +0000

This is me to the core. Every word.

Great post. Really enjoying the book, also.

By: Karthik

Karthik — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 07:14:59 +0000

Eric,

It just amazes me that how on earth that you write an article that completely matches with my state of mind at that moment. It is eerie but at the same time comforting to know that someone's going through the exact same thing and it is ok for me to think that way. All the best to you for your 'failures' and will eagerly await your next post.

Bye for now.

By: Eric Karjaluoto

Eric Karjaluoto — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 15:00:22 +0000

Good point--details can make or break a project; ignoring them can certainly come with some peril.

By: arayans

arayans — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 08:21:13 +0000

Eric,
Loved this post! I guess a lot of people would have, like me, felt that they were reading about themselves.

But..
(yes, there's always a But)

I'd rather look upon this post as something that a 35-40 year-old designer/person ought to refer to, and not students. As students, we need to be pesky and meticulous, and such a post may actually see a student wrongly deduce that, in the larger scheme of things, it is okay to generate output as opposed to spend time on (seemingly-)trivial things. Te truth is, we students need to be painstaking in our approach, and keep reinforcing our concern for small bits, so that it becomes a part of our system, and, by the time we get to 30 years of age, not making a mistake should have become a sub-conscious thing.
Sadly, i see a few too many students around me who've been exposed to the the "this tiny mistake will go unnoticed, so don't bother about it" mentality, and it is quite unnerving.. i know that your post does not convey the same, and in-fact, if a reader were to observe well, what you've stated is exactly the opposite of a "it's OK" mentality - but am just expressing my concern.

PS. We'll miss you! Your posts were a regular read for me, and often, i'd engage some fellow design students on discussions about them - will look forward to your return :)

By: Clayton Misura

Clayton Misura — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 17:09:40 +0000

Godspeed Eric, I'm looking forward to your next project!!

By: Eric Karjaluoto

Eric Karjaluoto — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 15:05:57 +0000

Thanks for all the kind words--I really appreciate all the positive feedback!

And (like I said in the post) this is a temporary thing. I really enjoy writing these posts and fully intend to return to them. Right now it's just a matter of clearing my plate so I can concentrate on a few things. :-)

By: Jonno Cohen

Jonno Cohen — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 08:58:26 +0000

Wow.

It appears you and I have a lot in common - your description of your perfectionism almost perfectly depicts mine too.

So I understand why you're stepping back from here, but I'm disappointed one of my favourite blogs is on pause.

Thanks for the great posts, and good luck with your year of failure.

By: Vanessa

Vanessa — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 04:15:17 +0000

Eric, this is my new favorite blog post of yours.
[So it took me about 30 minutes to write this comment... I don't generally comment on blogs because I feel like what I have to say is probably not valuable enough to clog up some nice person's comment thread. If I feel that it's likely not different, funny or cool enough (which is basically all the time), I gracefully back away, er chicken out. Which after reading this seems like a bigger fail than not giving it a try once in a while. May fortune favour the bold this year!]